Torridon

We awoke to a day that promised no rain, no sunshine either, but at least a dry day. Our accommodation is fantastic. A huge room with views over the Loch to the mountains beyond.

After a late breakfast (no work today !!) we decided on a walk into Torridon village. As luck would have it for Kirsty, we had to walk past an old graveyard. She took advantage. We slightly mucked up the walk, missing a trail we wanted, but we were able to sort his on the return journey. Coffee and cake were had at the local shop.

We then headed to a small peninsula across from the cafe to find an open air church that was used by the Free Church of Scotland when they broke away from the main Church of Scotland in the 1840’s. The main church had its preachers appointed by the local Laird (no doubt to control what was preached) and the Free church wanted to appoint their own preacher from within a group of elders. With the “wee free” blocked from using normal churches they resorted to hidden open air churches to get together.

As the tide was well out we walked back across the beach to complete our circuit. It was a good walk, about 8.5klm all up.

We skipped lunch due to the huge brekky and cake in the morning. In the afternoon we headed over to Shieldaig, a lovely little fishing village of classic white washed houses along the water front. We will head their tomorrow for dinner.

Then, time for a rest before our dinner out at the restaurant at the hotel. It is a very smart restaurant with a great reputation. It was definitely jacket for gentlemen and dresses/ smart outfits for the ladies. We scrubbed OK with our recent Glasgow purchases.

Shortly after sitting down it became evident that the couple next to us were Australian, Emily and Mackensie from Brisbane. They were about 25 years old and it was their anniversary (not marriage we didn’t think). It soon became apparent that they were staff at the hotel, having their BIG night out. We chatted all night, and probably didn’t give the food the attention it deserved. It was a degustation menu, and the highlights were the Chawanmushi, Ocean Trout, Partridge and one of the desserts.

Em and Mack (now Aussie references) have been travelling and working for 6 months with another 6 months to go. Em is a Nurse and Mack an electrician by trade, but here they are a maid and maintenance man. They have been to a lot of Europe and the last stop was Iceland. After another month here they head to Silver Star in British Columbia, Canada, for the ski season. We finished the night in the bar with them, and despite them knowing all the staff, we were all still kicked out at midnight….probably a very good thing.